Daily Win 10 auto update attempts, 100% fail rate

Well, the experiment seems to have worked, at least with the KB5057142 update is concerned. It downloaded normally, and the computer rebooted properly into normal Windows, without the black screen. Of course, that doesn't mean everything's good - still lots of errors in the event viewer log, "ATI EEU PnP start/stop failed 16396", DistributedCOM, and Bonjour Service being the most common.

I've tried every single version of Memtest86 5.01, and can't find one that will work. One of them turns out to be a VLC video file (VLC says it's a video, but not a recognized codec), the USB version doesn't recognize any of my USB drives, I don't have a floppy drive, and the bootable ISO versions just give me a system error message that "Virtual hard disc files can't be mounted from image files, or from removable media that isn't formatted with the NTFS file system", and won't go any further.

I did manage to fool it into loading onto a USB, but all that's there is a brief text file, explaining Memtest86's purpose & where to find on the net. There were no actionable files.

Methods used to use Memtest86+ when initial attempts fail:

Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials:
Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC Installation Upgrade Tutorials

Note
If you have fast boot or ultra fast boot enabled in your UEFI firmware settings, then you will need to temporarily disable fast boot or ultra fast boot to be able to boot from a USB.

How to Enable Fast Boot or Ultra Fast Boot in UEFI Firmware Settings for Windows:
Enable or Disable Fast Boot in UEFI Firmware Settings for Windows Performance Maintenance Tutorials

1. Try another USB stick
2. Try all USB ports (2.0 and 3.0)
3. Maybe when using UEFI Bios you have to temporarily switch to Legacy in BIOS settings
4. Turn off temporarily fast boot, secure boot, CSM if enabled

I don't have USB 3, just USB 2 I believe (the PC is 7 years old). The device manager only refers to USB, not USB 2 or 3.

I did try all the USB connections I have, and several 30 Gb USB's, but the results were the same. Strangely, when I downloaded & installed memtest86 v. 5.1 on the USB flash drive, it said it would format the USB, but that didn't happen. There were a couple of small photos on it & a small document, but those remained.

Presumably, I'll need to create a bootable USB with a Windows OS before I can do any of this. I have no idea how to do it, but I'll do some research.

I Googled UEFI to find out what it was. My computer uses Legacy BIOS, not UEFI, so no fast boot options as far as I can tell. Is it still possible to boot from a USB without UEFI?

Sorry this is so difficult & involved, just to run a single test. I suppose that's a downside to having an older computer.

On the plus side, the computer sat idle and unattended for 5 hours, and it kept running normally, without crashing. That hasn't happened in quite a while!

For another OP they had had initial problems performing the test and by trial and error they were successful in performing the test.
They posted this information:

1. I disabled the fast boot
2. I diasbled the secure boot control to get into CSM
3. I enabled the CSM and F10 to save and exit
4. Press F2 and in the boot menu we will find 4 options:
a) 2 for UEFI: boot manager, UEFI Flash disk
b) 2 for bios: boot manager, flash disk
5. Select the bios flash disk which will be the last option(fourth) and set it as primary boot device.
6. Press F10 to save and exit and wait for the memtest86+ to run.

See what you can do with the above information and the earlier throubleshooting steps.
It is trial and error with each computer manufacturer/model

BTW, I came across an interesting thread on the Microsoft community. Turns out that a lot of people have this identical issue, with identical error codes, etc. One of the experienced folks there thought it sounded like an incompatible driver was preventing the update.

Windows Creator Black Screen on Second Reboot During - Microsoft Community

One respondent performed a bunch of tests, and determined there was a problem with an old onboard WiFi card. Apparently, the drivers are incompatible with later versions of Win10 and new, compatible drivers do not exist.

He has the exact same model, spec, and age computer that I do. He shut down, removed the card (it's not used anyway), and the updates & later Windows versions loaded as they should.

After that, several other people, all with the exact same computer, with the exact same disused WiFi card, and the identical symptoms, did exactly the same thing & got the same results.

I shut down, opened my computer, and found the exact same, problematic WiFi card inside. I've removed it, restarted, and am in the process of trying to install a newer version of Windows. I desperately hope this works - it did for everyone else.

I'll keep you posted!

Further to the above, the results are encouraging. Windows 10 Fall Creator's (version 1709) just loaded & launched with no problems at all, and virtually no error messages in the event viewer. At this point, it appears the issue was a hardware/incompatible driver issue. I'm pretty happy - this update has been failing to install (and crashing) since June 2017, and it was finally successful!!

I had planned to run memtest86 (I created a bootable flash drive USB stick last night), but was interrupted by a major tsunami warning - I'm right dead-bang in the middle of the path it was supposed to take. I was up until 5:00 a.m., getting ready to evacuate the family, pets, etc., so I never got around to trying to run the test.

If there are further issues, I'll let you know. For the moment, I'm going to try to get some work done on it!

That's great news that the upgrade succeeded.
Nice work.
Was the computer in clean boot?
The location is displayed as Canada but you may be somewhere near Asia to have Tusami warnings?
Certainly exciting if not a crazy atmosphere.
It's a surprise that you had not had problems upgrading to 1511 and 1607.

No, the computer wasn't in clean boot at the time of the update, just in normal running. It appears that the WiFi adapter (either the hardware or the outdated driver) simply doesn't work with version 1607 (I was having frequent crashes, even with normal security updates) or 1709. It seems to be running sweetly now, and it's nice to have the features of the Creator's edition. It'll take me awhile to run through the new features.

I'm on the west coast of Vancouver Island (a few miles north of Port Angeles, WA). The 7.9 quake occurred about 150 miles off Alaska at about 1:35 this morning, and triggered the tsunami warning.

The warning actually extended all the way to Hawaii, with NOAA advising people to flee from ocean areas & seek high ground. My location was specifically mentioned in the US authorities' warning. Pretty spooky, and a tense few hours! We're about a block from the ocean, and only about 15 feet above sea level, at the end of a long, shallow harbor. Precisely the kind that funnels tsunami waves into giants.

At least with an earthquake, the event itself is over fairly quick. We were told we'd have to wait for just over 3 hours before the tsunami hit us. Great for giving time to flee, but that was a very loooong 3 hours' wait! Thankfully, the tsunami wave's greatest height turned out to be...6". Not at all devastating!

Anyway, I wanted to thank you for all the hard work you put into helping me. I appreciate your time, and your efforts! It was, as they say, "beyond the call of duty". There aren't many who care enough to help out a computer simpleton like me, and again, I really appreciate it!

- Mike

You are very welcome.

Victoria and the San Juan islands I had been to many years ago.
It was the first time that I had seen live kite boarding.
'm glad that it turned out ok.